One Future, Lightly Used
by SeptimusMagistos
Summary: Vault Dweller. Chosen One. Lone Wanderer. Courier. Heroes chosen by destiny to safeguard humanity in its times of need. It's now up to Shepard to carry on their legacy and protect the galaxy from a threat like nothing humans have seen before.
1. Chapter 1

The second worst thing about the attack on Eden Prime, Councilor Sparatus decided, was that it was going to make humans completely unbearable to deal with.

At the absolute best of times interacting with humans was a lot like talking to children. Stubborn, rowdy children with laser rifles and Mass Effect technology. Not so long ago they unleashed nuclear weapons and terrifying viruses on their own planet, wiping out millennia of technological and cultural progress. A lot of them became literal cavemen. Small caches of technology and data hidden away in apocalypse proof vaults allowed them to restore their technological level in three centuries rather than a hundred. But culture is not so easily restored.

Only two species ever proved to be the right combination of violent and stubborn to nuke their own planet. The krogan just got even more hardy and violent than before. The humans never went that far, but what happened instead was in some ways worse. They flew into space before their heroes and villains had time to fade into history, much less myth. The scientists decoding the Prothean archives on Mars were at most a few generations removed from adventurers walking through the wasteland with wide-brimmed hats pulled over their eyes and shooting slavers and cannibals. They were a young race with the technology of an old race at their disposal. Children really was the correct description.

Like any children they got into plenty of trouble. They encroached into zones the Council races traditionally left alone as buffers. They kept petitioning for more Arrays to be thrown open. They were caught conducting illegal studies of the Citadel's Keepers. They seemed to always be on the verge of starting a war with the batarians. But this latest trouble was not of their doing. Which meant that instead of being dragged in to be chastised they would barge in demanding things. And worse, they'd arguably be right to do so.

And even worse, he'd have to listen to them. He was listening to one of them right now.

As humans went, Shepard was not a particularly imposing specimen. She was shorter than either of her subordinates and very soft. All humans looked kind of soft to a turian, but the contours of her face and her unusually large eyes gave off a suggestion of youth and delicacy. If Sparatus didn't know who she was, he might have guessed she was under the age of majority. If she stepped out of her combat armor and ran a comb through the unkempt mane of chocolate-brown hair, she could easily pass as one of the thousands of girls who flocked to the Citadel each year in search of galactic culture or just some excitement.

The combat logs from three days ago showed her killing 173 geth.

And that was the problem with humans, really. You couldn't tell with them.

For instance, Shepard's eyes were exploring her podium with an unsettling concentration. For a few seconds Sparatus found himself staring at it too, just to see what was so interesting about. Not finding anything special, he decided to call her attention back to the proceedings.

"Courier Shepard?"

Her eyes flipped upward to meet Sparatus's own and she stood a little straighter. But she just didn't seem as interested in him as she was in the podium and after several seconds her eyes drifted down again.

"You and your party were on Eden Prime during the geth attack. We have access to your combat logs, but it would help us understand the situation if you told us the story."

"All right..." Shepard creased her forehead. "It went a little like this..."

* * *

><p>"I don't like this."<p>

Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, one of the greatest pilots in the employ of Systems Alliance, liked very few things. Good alcohol, pretty women, leather seats, and captains who hadn't read up on obscure genetic conditions made the list. The current mission did not.

"First they send us on a shakedown run with the one-of-a-kind ultra-expensive prototype ship that - get this - has stealth capabilities for if we need to sneak by a huge enemy fleet. Then the Alliance sends us a Courier. And then the turians send us a Spectre. Call me paranoid but I think we're about to run into some major trouble."

"You're paranoid," Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko answered without hesitation. "This is a big moment for us _and_ for the Council. I'm sure the politicians just wanted to throw a few extra chips into the pot."

"Yeah, no, that's bull. If the Council just wanted to show off they'd send along an admiral or a politician, not a Spectre. And a Courier? Couriers exist to solve problems. We wouldn't be getting one if the Alliance didn't think we were about to have a problem. And we wouldn't be getting Zetta Shepard of all people if they didn't expect that problem to involve gunfire."

"There's tons of other reasons they could have sent her," Alenko objected.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Maybe they're planning to take pictures. Shepard's one of the Alliance's biggest heroes. It looks good to have her standing next to our new ship," Kaidan paused for a second before a mischievous twinkle snuck into his eye. "I mean, it looks _really_ good."

"All right, I'll give you that one," Joker answered with a laugh. "_Maybe_ they just called up one of the most dangerous women in the universe because they expect her to put on a bikini and pose on top of their ship. But I seriously doubt it."

* * *

><p>"Wait, wait, wait," Alenko interrupted. "You could <em>hear<em> us?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's...um, yeah," Alenko finished lamely.

"I know people find me attractive. I've seen the pornography they make with my lookalikes," Shepard explained helpfully.

"Not quite the details we were looking for," Sparatus commented, looking visibly annoyed. "Please continue your account."

"Very well. At that point Captain Anderson..."

* * *

><p>Captain Anderson tapped Shepard's shoulder. Or at least he tried to. When he did, Shepard casually leaned her shoulder to the side, avoiding the touch, and then spun around in the same seamless motion, coming face to face with him.<p>

"Shepard. Are you up for a briefing? Nihilus wants to meet you."

Shepard gave him a measured look, eyes drilling into his skin like electronic microscopes. After a moment's hesitation her lips formed a tight smile.

"Of course."

With another fluid movement Shepard shifted stances and moved alongside the captain.

"Your people are scared of me," she noted, pointing with her chin at a small knot of crewmen leaning together like conspirators.

"Not at all. They're just intimidated."

Shepard cocked her head in puzzlement.

"What's the difference?"

"They know that you could do very bad things to them if you wanted to. But they also know that you're on their side. That makes you intimidating."

"I see," Shepard nodded, as if receiving some sage wisdom. "What about Nihilus? Is he intimidating or scary?"

Anderson couldn't resist a small smile.

"If that's your way of asking if he's on our side, the word from on high is that we're to give him all the cooperation we can, and he's never done anything to strain the alliance. Some of the crew are uneasy, of course. But as for you personally? I doubt you have anything to be scared of."

"You think I can take him?"

"If I said no, would that scare you?"

"No."

"There you go, then."

Anderson stopped, pressing his palm against the scanner. The doors opened with an accommodating swoosh, revealing a round room containing some communication machinery, a holographic projector, and a turian.

"Shepard, this is Nihilus. He's here to observe and lend us a hand if we need one. Nihilus, this is Shepard. She'll command our ground forces and create miracles as needed."

Nihilus nodded and gave the turian version of a smile.

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that. But I actually do know who Shepard is. You're famous among your own kind," he addressed the woman.

"Humans?"

"No. Couriers."

"Do you know many Couriers?"

"Not in person, no. But I follow the lore a little. When it comes down to it, your organization is a lot like mine."

"It _is_ similar. But different! More organic. Spectres are top down, imposed by the Council to fill the gaps between the laws. Couriers grew naturally out of adventurers."

"Adventurers?"

"Yes," Shepard nodded, her face alight with enthusiasm. "Adventurers. Explorers. Vault delvers. Monster hunters. Small units, informal organization, built-in problem-solving expertise. Very important to the Republic."

"Problem solving, huh? Sounds like you _are_ just like Spectres," Nihilus smirked.

"You have to know how to solve _any_ kind of problem. You need to be able to get through a locked door, create and repair infrastructure, spy on people, negotiate with people, shoot at people...there is less shooting at people than you would think, but still a lot of shooting at people."

"Yeah, I get that," Nihilus nodded in empathy. "They give us all the authority in the world, but at the end of the day some people won't accept any authority except that which comes from the barrel of a gun."

"We have less authority than that. We're supposed to keep our activities quiet. One reason I'm famous is that I'm less good at quiet."

"Still, it seems like when Earth is finally ready to have a Spectre of its own, you won't be lacking for candidates."

"I have a cousin back in San Francisco," Shepard said, closing her eyes, as if in an attempt to picture her relative more clearly. "She's only two years old. Maybe she could be the first human Spectre."

"If she's anything like you? She very well could."

"Nihilus? The beacon?" Anderson reminded gently.

"Right. Of course. The _other_ reason I wanted to meet you. The truth is, this mission is far more than a simple shakedown run."

"I see," Shepard answered noncommittally.

"We're here for a covert pickup. A research team on Eden Prime dug up a Prothean beacon. I assume you know the importance of such a find."

Shepard nodded. Of course she knew. Everyone knew.

"Knowledge," she intoned, just in case. "Possibly technology. Every beacon is a galactic treasure. Everyone wants one."

"And right now your people have one," Nihilus agreed. "And in the spirit of sharing, we're here to escort it to the Citadel. Best case scenario, we enjoy a nice train ride, pick up a tall box, and get back before anyone has a chance to miss us. We can use the time to get to know each other better, maybe swap a few stories. I'm guessing you've got some good ones."

"Worst case scenario?" inquired Sheprad.

"We get to show each other what we can do."

* * *

><p>"Unless something of importance happened during the briefing, I think we can fast forward a little," Councilor Valern interrupted.<p>

"If you like. After the briefing was completed, we made the transit to the Eden Prime system, where…"

"You found your worst case scenario," interrupted Sparatus.

"Yes we did," Shepard continued, unperturbed by the interruption. "The planet was under attack by a geth fleet, including three dreadnoughts."

And there was the third worst thing about the attack – its perpetrators. Since winning their rebellion, the machine race of geth had been content to stay in its newly-won space and taking potshots at any ship that got too close was the extent of their aggression. Taking a fleet out to bomb a Citadel-aligned planet was something very different.

The humans were demanding action, obviously. But other races were likewise concerned. Less than a hundred people in the galaxy knew about the existence of the beacon and to everyone else the attack seemed unprovoked and random. Had the geth struck at a world near their borders, that would have been one thing. But an attack at an old human colony well away was much scarier. Everyone wanted the Council to do something, be it launch an investigation, sweep Citadel space for any unlicensed AI research, move a fleet onto the geth borders, or outright attack and hopefully destroy the machine race. The more cautious thinkers could see that starting a war over the possibility of another attack at some point somewhere wouldn't be wise, but they were being outshouted.

Still, three dreadnoughts. That was something to think about.

"We put up the stealth field immediately and debated leaving the system. Because of the beacon we chose to move in and landed near the research site. Nihilus insisted on moving ahead on his own to scout; I stayed behind to choose my party."

* * *

><p>Shepard walked in front of the assembled soldiers, examining each one like they were dogs at a show. Her eyes flickered between the assembled infantrymen and the omnitool on her wrist. Like most human-made omnitools, it was a thick bracelet with a reassuring heft to it, not quite as bulky as the old Pip-boys, but clearly made with the same design aesthetic in mind.<p>

"You," she finally settled on Kaidan, pointing at his nose, causing him to unconsciously cross his eyes. "You're a biotic _and_ a tech expert?"

"I...yes."

"And you," she said, staring up and up and up at Corporal Jenkins. "You're big."

"Most supermutants are," he hedged.

"Perfect. You two will come with me. The rest will hide."

"You sure?" Captain Anderson asked. "Seems like you're leaving yourself exposed with so few people."

"There is an army out here. They can kill ten or fifteen people easily. Three is enough."

The soldiers around her exchanged uncertain glances, but no one dared to outright contradict her.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" asked Jenkins.

"Obelisk," answered Shepard.

"Oh. What's _that_ look like?"

"Tall. Pointy." Shepard paused and uncertainly added "Eldritch?"

At this moment she was spared further explanations when two geth drones, each one about the size of a standard Eyebot, floated up and opened fire on Jenkins. The first sent out a laser beam that drew an angry red line through Jenkins, totally ignoring the Mass Effect shield. The armor's ablative layer hissed and bubbled out, running the look of the armor but saving Jenkins from being cut in half. He brought up his own gun only to find that the laser had sliced through that too. At this point the second drone shot out a missile which blew through Jenkins's still-intact shield with concussive force and sent him flying even as it deposited white-hot shrapnel throughout his body.

By this time the other two soldiers were getting in on the action. Kaidan threw his arm out and the one of the drones was enveloped by dark energy. It frantically fired its thrusters to try and correct course, but that just made things worse. Driven by the biotic attack, the drone spun out and crashed into the ground with an explosion.

Shepard popped out from behind cover and let out three pistol shots in quick succession. The first hit the drone's shield and bounced off. The second spent its momentum popping the shield. The final bullet hit the drone's electronic eye and emerged from the other side, having irreparably damaged its electronics.

By the time the drones finished falling, Shepard and Alenko were leaning over Jenkins's blood-splattered body.

"I wish that hadn't happened," noted Shepard.

"No kidding. You think he's dead?"

"Maybe. Supermutants can take a lot of damage, but if one falls it usually means he's down. The others will drag him to the ship and treat him. We will move on."

"Are we going to be getting a new third?"

"No. No one else was big enough."

At this point Kaidan was seriously starting to wonder about Shepard. Hero or not, the woman was distinctly odd.

"I'm not that big myself," he offered.

"You don't need to be big. You can hack, and I can't. You can be biotic, and I can't. He could carry a gun that was equivalent to light artillery and now nobody can."

"Oh," comprehension dawned on Kaidan. "You know, we have other heavy weapons guys."

"Not heavy enough."

With Shepard's selection criteria adequately explored, Kaidan moved forward, carefully watching the area for any more hidden geth.

"You can't hack?" he asked.

"I can reroute physical wires, a little. If I need to get through a software block, I usually find someone who knows the password and threaten to shoot them."

"I always thought Couriers had to be the best at everything."

"Not exactly. We need to be able to do anything. In training they gave us goals, but we could learn to accomplish them in any way we chose. If you met the goal, you passed."

"I'm guessing Couriers don't end up being too choosy about their methods, then?"

Shepard stopped in her tracks.

"Are you implying something?"

"Not about you," Kaidan physically backed up a step. "Sorry if it sounded personal. I've just had bad experiences with the Whatever Works school of thought."

"I see," Shepard slowly blinked. "Tell me about it at Sharing Time."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

For an answer Shepard suddenly whipped out her guns and fired the one in her left hand over Kaidan's shoulder. He turned around to see the electric pulse strike a previously invisible humanoid machine. It was huge, easily a head taller than Kaidan himself, and carrying a nasty-looking shotgun. It was also shaking and sparking lightly, as Shepard's Pulse Pistol was playing havoc with its electronics. Shepard's other gun immediately deposited several bullets into the geth's chassis.

"How…?" asked Kaidan, subtly pointing with his chin.

"You need to know how to see bent light. There is an outline. But that gives me an idea."

Shepard pulled something out of her backpack and gently tossed it underhand to Kaidan. He found himself holding a Stealth Boy.

"The ship should have given me the idea. Too much on my mind. Let's go flip the script on them."

* * *

><p>A small group of geth was milling about the archeological dig site, drones flying overhead. The area was currently clear of humans, though it did have a number of dead bodies. Still, the platforms were alert for any sign of the intruders.<p>

The first sign they got was a grenade bouncing into the middle of the largest group. The second was two intruders decloaking to unleash a barrage of bullets and biotics against the drones and ducking behind low stone barriers. More than half of the on-site geth and all but one of the drones were gone in only a few seconds.

They tried to regroup, of course. One of the platforms leapt into the sky, aiming to land behind the intruders. At its maximum point of ascent the geth suddenly jerked and died. A second later the remaining drone exploded into fragments.

"I'm not doing that," noted Shepard as the remaining geth poured on suppressive fire, staying low to the ground.

"That looked like sniper fire to me," answered Kaidan. "I'm guessing someone from the garrison survived."

"Good for them."

There were three geth platforms remaining. Two of them were keeping the barrier under fire while the remaining one tried to edge around it to flank. Shepard responded to the situation by tumbling out of cover and placing the would-be flanker between herself and its comrades. The geth fired on her but her shield withstood the hit as she fired back. The two geth at the back were distracted by Shepard and while they were trying to find a way to fire at her without hitting one of their own, Kaidan popped from cover and biotically slammed one of them into the other before unloading his rifle at the tangled pile.

Having won her shootout, Shepard bent down to examine the geth weapon. Kaidan supposed the weapons had some scientific value, especially since the geth seemed to like energy weapons. When humans first made contact with the galactic community, their unusual arsenal caused a minor revolution in the art of war. If geth had any new insights, it could cause more of the same.

A woman dressed in a mud-colored uniform and a wide-brimmed hat that covered her face approached. Kaidan looked up and kept his eye on her. Shepard did not. The new arrival raised her hand to the brim of her hat in a semi-formal salutation.

"Hi. I'm Ranger Ashley Williams. Who are you two?"

"We're on a special mission," answered Shepard, pocketing something.

"I'm guessing you were our friendly sniper?" asked Kaidan.

"Yeah, that was me. I've been trying to get at this group for two hours, but there were just too many of them. I couldn't believe it when you two came along. Must be one _really_ special mission to walk into the middle of all this."

"It is," answered Shepard. "What _is_ all this? What's the situation?"

"The situation's a nightmare. The fleet came out of nowhere. They jammed our distress calls. I hope you got one off?" she asked, and continued once the others nodded. "The garrison was overwhelmed. The rangers are doing better, but only just. They've been sending out groups to pick us off one by one. I don't know how many of my unit are still alive. Worst of all, they can go anywhere they want because the Archimedes system didn't go off."

Ashley stared at the horizon in accusation and the others followed her gaze, just seeing the top of a slim metal tower.

"They must have hacked the tower," opined Kaidan. "Still, if it were me, I would have put a few cannon rounds in it afterward, just to be sure."

"So would I. Geth must think differently," answered Shepard. "If we took the tower, could you get it to fire?"

"I'm guessing the geth would jam any electronic signal. But if I could reboot the system from analog and turn on optical targeting, I could set it to kill anything in the sky, friend or foe."

"Not a lot of friends up in _those_ skies," Ashley remarked morosely, staring at a geth vehicle making its way through the clouds. "Not now."

"All right," Shepard nodded. "We're making a detour."

* * *

><p>"Watch the ceilings. Some of those things can jump and cling," instructed Ashley as the group crept toward the tower.<p>

"They're really more people than things," Shepard corrected her.

"Is this really the time for that debate?"

"If you think of them as objects or animals, it's easy to think they're stupid. But they build space ships, so they're smart. They'll fight like people, not like turrets."

"Okay, fair."

Ashley leaned down to view the tower's entrance through the scope of her gun.

"I don't see any geth," she noted after a couple seconds' observation.

"They probably don't think anyone's going to try and retake the tower," said Kaidan. "If they did, they'd destroy it for sure, different thought patterns or no."

"Which means a token force in and around the tower and then every geth in the area rushes us when we activate it," Shepard summed up.

"And I'll be too busy getting the tower up and running to help defend it," added Kaidan.

The women just nodded, Ashley grimly and Shepard enigmatically.

"Just for the record, it's not too late to back out. We could leave the tower be, catch that train, and go after our primary objective."

"No," answered Shepard. "This is a good plan. We'll just need to make it work."

She hefted her gun as the others did the same.

"Charge on my mark. Ready? Charge!"

They charged.

* * *

><p>"We killed a few geth inside the tower. They <em>were<em> on ceilings, but it wasn't a problem. Kaidan got to work on the tower while Ashley and I prepared to defend the entrance."

"The geth had to be there in overwhelming numbers. How did you manage it?"

"It wasn't easy. But we had a solid plan. Here is what it was…"

* * *

><p>Shepard walked outside the tower's entrance and leaned down to place an object on the ground. She took two steps and put down another one.<p>

"What is that?" asked Ashley, peeking out from behind cover.

"Mines. And something else."

"That's great. When you're done, come back inside and we'll set up a defensive position."

But Shepard just shook her head.

"Stay inside and shoot anything that tries to come in," she ordered. "I'll fight out here."

"That's crazy!" objected Ashley.

"There could be dozens of geth here. If we let them come at us together, we'll lose even if we have a good position. Out here I can keep them from bunching up."

"They'll overwhelm you!"

"Not if I'm faster than them."

"But you're not."

"Am so."

The geth came out of the nearby woods by twos and by threes. Most were bog standard platforms, armed with kinetic weaponry. Some were large, equipped with reinforced shields and plasma shotguns. A few were carrying rocket launchers. Against them stood two women – Ashley, crouching behind the impromptu minefield with her sniper rifle, and Shepard, standing a step away from a metal wall with her guns pointed at the enemy. It didn't look like a fair fight.

And yet, somehow, it was. Shepard seemed able to predict every move the enemy made. Each time her shield was about to go down, she was just able to dive into cover as it broke. Each time an energy weapon was fired at her, she managed to present an unscorched part of her armor to it. Each time a rocket trooper was about to fire, there was another geth between it and Shepard. When the geth spread out, she picked them out one by one. When they bunched up, she threw grenades. All the while Ashley was taking down geth after geth, furiously calculating shot angles and weighing the likelihood of landing a kill shot against the potential target's value.

But finally it seemed to be all over. With dozens of geth laying broken on the battlefield, a small group was still standing. Shepard was all out of grenades and though she was only a couple steps away from cover, they had enough power to overwhelm her.

Without missing a step in her dance, Shepard tapped the underside of her wrist. And behind the geth an Alliance Eyebot sprang to life. It didn't even finish floating to its normal cruising altitude of human eye height before opening up with its built-in laser.

It managed to fire precisely three shots. The first pierced a standard platform, sending it to the scrapyard in the sky. The second hit one of the large, reinforced units in the chest, doing some damage but not enough to down it. The third one took the same platform in the head, melting the optics. At this point the Eyebot began to spin and smoke as the geth unleashed a variety of anti-machine attacks against it.

Still, it accomplished Shepard's goal. She retreated another step and tumbled as her shield broke, crouching behind the corner of a building. One of the large geth fired straight through the corner, but though it made a large hole, Shepard wasn't hit. Five geth moved toward Shepard together while three more ran toward the tower's entrance.

At this moment the Archimedes system bloomed into life. The tower unleashed the power of the sun against everything in the sky in the form of dozens of white energy beams per second, turning the incoming geth reinforcements and fighters into molten slag.

The geth ran inside. The first of them died to a shot from Ashley's derringer-type pistol, deliberately set to unleash all its power in one shot even if that meant instantly overheating. The second geth raised its rifle and pressed the trigger, only to find that its weapon was overheated too. It glanced up in confusion as Kaidan emerged from the tower's machinery, spraying it with bullets. The remaining geth desperately tried to kill the humans, but with two against one it was outmatched and went down before inflicting a wound.

In the meantime outside the tower the geth hunting party rounded the corner only to find Shepard gone. They fired wildly at thin air, perhaps suspecting stealth. They were right to do so, but wrong in their approach; as an electric pulse followed by several bullets hit the remaining large platform, the remaining ones turned their heads upward to find Shepard firing from the room of the one-story building.

She ducked and rolled, avoiding their shots. One of the geth threw a grenade. She slid off the roof on a different side of the building and dispatched a geth as it rounded the corner. She flipped to the side as the next one came out firing, took it down before it could take her down, then ran for it as the remaining two emerged. Their shots got through her shields but not her armor as she dove behind yet another building. One of the geth climbed onto the roof. The other rounded the corner. Shepard was right around that corner, so close that she was now inside the geth's shield. She fired as it vainly tried to club her with its rifle, turned around as her own shield came back up, and killed the last of the enemies.

Panting with exhaustion, she walked toward Kaidan and Ashley as they emerged from the doorway.

"Kaidan! Let's play good news, bad news."

"Wait, what?"

"The tower is up and running. It will keep the geth from sending in more reinforcements or bombing the town from orbit," summarized Shepard.

"Good news?" Kaidan tried to guess the rules of the game. Seeing Shepard's encouraging nod, he relaxed slightly.

"I'm out of grenades, out of Stealth Boys, out of Eyebots, and almost out of batteries for my Pulse Pistol," Shepard continued.

"Bad news."

"If most of the geth in the area ran here, the train station is going to be lightly guarded."

"Good news."

"The artifact won't be."

"Bad news."

"I'll be relying on the two of you."

"Um…"

"Good news!" Ashley cut in. Shepard gave her an approving grin.

"Let's hope so."

They walked toward the spaceport, alert for any geth stragglers. But none emerged. The soldiers were able to catch their breaths and absolutely nothing bad happened until they reached a loading dock just before the train station where Shepard suddenly stopped and muttered a small "Oh."

"What is it?" asked Ashley, before following Shepard's line of sight. It ended at Nihilus's body, half melted by plasma.

"Bad news," summarized Kaidan.

* * *

><p>"That was in poor taste," noted Sparatus.<p>

"Humor helps to stay alert in combat situations," objected Shepard. "I take responsibility but Nihilus would have understood."

"I'm sure," Councilor Tevos attempted to defuse the tension. "Are you positive the body belonged to Nihilus?"

"The head was melted, but the armor was the same. Seems probable."

"How do you think he died?" asked Sparatus.

"Impossible to know. Geth ambush?"

"Nihilus was too good to fall for that."

"He might have tried to save some civilians," suggested Kaidan. "There were other bodies on that dock."

"Possible," acknowledged Sparatus. "You had no other clues about his death?"

"None at all," muttered Shepard, staring at the back of her hand.

* * *

><p>"I'm guessing there'll be a welcoming party at the next station," said Kaidan. "I mean, I don't know a lot about geth, but it would be weird if they <em>didn't<em> have some way of remotely communicating. I'm sure one of them radioed ahead.

"That's okay," answered Shepard. "Trains are fun to fight through."

"Until the geth overwhelm us, you mean."

"They can't. That's what's fun about trains. They're narrow and there's cover everywhere. We can kill an army in here."

"That's good, because at the rate this is going, we'll have to."

There was a thump above them.

"Called it," declared Kaidan, firing through the roof.

Within a few minutes there were geth everywhere: hanging from the top of the train, crouching behind the benches, or standing out on the platform to fire inside. And within a few more minutes there were no more geth left, and the party stumbled out the doors walking over a mechanical corpse.

"Called it," declared Shepard in mockery of Kaidan's tone.

"Don't start celebrating just yet," warned Ashley. "If it were me, I'd save the worst for last."

"Me too," agreed Kaidan. "What do you think it'll be? Some more of the rocket drones? The big, invisible guys?"

"No," Shepard answered him. "Something worse."

The three of them were looking at the heavy doors to the final dock, which would contain the Prothean artifact. It had taken a long time, but they were almost at their goal.

And standing in front of those doors were two geth Colossi, each one as large as a tank and armored like one, with enormous cannons down their fronts.

Shepard looked at her gun and back at the massive enemies and muttered "I wish Jenkins were here."

* * *

><p>"See, my first instinct would be to run up to one of them, get on top of it, trick the other into shooting it, then jump off at the last possible second," remarked Shepard. "But I don't know how we'd deal with the other one."<p>

"Also they'll fight like people and not like turrets," Ashley reminded her.

"Also that, yes."

"Could we maybe blind them?" offered Kaidan. "There's sand here, right? If we could just get enough of it into the air…"

"And if we could get enough gas bags to rub up against them, we could just burn them to death," interrupted Ashley. "Keep it reasonable."

"We could ram them with a car," suggested Shepard.

"No good. They'd blow it up before it got close."

"Three cars? Maybe more. Kaidan could rig up something to keep them going straight. If we lined up enough, some would get through."

"Too many variables. Keep it simple, people."

"I see. Your turn, then," said Shepard. "Come up with a plan."

"You know what? Fine. Give me a minute."

Ashley put on her planning face, sinking into her thoughts and giving a thousand yard stare. The Colossi waited quietly, content to attack once the organics left cover but not to leave their positions with beautiful firing lines to walk into a possible ambush.

"Okay, I got it!" Ashley finally exclaimed. "Look, that crate right there. That would be this month's delivery of mining explosives."

"What do you even mine around here?" asked Shepard.

"So not the point! There's enough there to kill a dozen of those things, much less two."

"Mining explosives are stable, though," objected Kaidan. "That crate wouldn't explode even if you shot it a thousand times. You need a _detonation_."

"They are also powerful. You wouldn't need the whole crate. Two or three bricks each would do it," said Shepard.

"I take it _you_ have a plan now?" asked Kaidan.

"I do. In a minute you'll just grab some biotically. Synch the detonators to your omnitool and be ready to throw those."

"Do I want to know how you're planning to get the crate open?"

"Let me show you how."

Shepard drew here disabled Eyebot from her backpack and tossed it into the air. The Colossi moved slightly as they put their optics in a better position to observe it. When the drone failed to make an attack and dropped to the ground like so much dead metal, they decided not to go after it. At around the same point they reached that conclusion, Shepard jumped over the barrier and bolted across the open area.

The Colossi turned to follow her progress. One of them fired, aiming not for where she was but for where she would be. Or at least where would have been had she not suddenly stopped, letting the shot pass harmlessly by. The other Colossus waited, tracked her, and fired.

Shepard jumped.

She didn't leap out of the shot's way, not quite. But she managed to catch the edge of it so that instead of ripping through her it simply tossed her into the air like a rag doll. Only instead of landing like a rag doll Shepard twisted her body, tucked her legs into a somersault, and rolled behind the crates. Her teammates winced sympathetically. No matter how good her landing, that had to hurt.

Shepard's arm popped out from behind a crate. Not the explosives crate but a shipment of cloth, considerably bulkier and consequently better as shelter. A Colossus fired back, destroying the crate, filling the air with flying bits of burning cloth, and knocking everything loose with the blast wave.

The explosives crate, caught in the edge of the blast, teetered and fell over, spilling its cargo all over the ground. Kaidan obediently grabbed several of the explosive bricks with his biotics and pulled them to his position.

Shepard took advantage of the confusion to dive behind a metal separator that withstood the next Colossus's blast with considerably better grace.

"What now?" Kaidan half-yelled as he got to work on the detonators. "Do we just throw these?"

"Might as well!" answered Shepard. "I'd do something more dramatic but I either sprained or broke something."

Kaidan and Ashley did as ordered, tossing three of the bricks at a Colossus's feet. When Kaidan triggered the detonation, the blast ripped right through the thing's barriers and downed it.

The remaining Colossus was not content to wait for the same to happen to it. With speed unnatural for something that size, it skittered across the clear space and over the barrier protecting the humans. Kaidan and Ashley just barely dove out of the way of its sharp legs. As soon as both of them were clear, Kaidan activated the remaining detonators, but the positioning was off and when the blast cleared the Colossus was unshielded and on fire, but it was still standing. It whirled around and advanced on Kaidan, threatening to put a foot right through him.

Ashley desperately drew her derringer, lined up the shot and fired. The heavy attack hit one of the geth's leg joints and blew it straight off. The already-damaged geth teetered uncertainly on its remaining three limbs. Kaidan took advantage of the situation by hitting it with the strongest biotic push he could muster. The wounded giant collapsed and Kaidan and Ashley spent the next half a minute shooting its bulk just to be sure.

For the last ten seconds they were joined by Shepard. She was walking with a slight limp and had her lips pursed, but seemed otherwise unharmed.

Giddy with a sense of victory, the three soldiers walked onto the final dock triumphantly. But their triumph was short-lived. The beacon they'd come so far to find was gone.

* * *

><p>"…the Colossi were most likely a decoy or a stalling tactic. Reports from the Maxson showed that the geth ships started pulling out while we were still on the train."<p>

And that was the number one worst thing about the attack. The geth won. They killed Nihilus and despite Shepard's admittedly impressive performance they had the beacon. Sparatus didn't know what they were capable of doing with it, but their audacity in going after it suggested that it was something grand. Even worse, the fact that they knew to go after it in the first place suggested they either had spies in the highest echelons of the Alliance government, or those of the Council itself. There was a lot to feel bad about.

"Thank you for your account," Councilor Tevos was saying. "It will help us as we consider our next action. Have you anything else to add?"

"I think we need to prevent this from happening again," Shepard said very seriously, for once looking up at the Councilors.

"I agree," said Sparatus. Then, on a whim, he asked "How?"

"Help us secure Mars," suggested Shepard. "It's the biggest store of Prothean knowledge in human space. It would be very difficult the Alliance to secure it against a fleet that size and still take care of its other responsibilities."

Sparatus considered. It was an innocuous enough request. Sending a force to Sol wouldn't provoke a war in the way that stationing the same force at the border with the geth might. On the other hand, the Council races would need every ship they had to secure their own stores of Prothean artifacts. And more importantly, there was always the chance that they were totally misreading the geth plans and spreading out their forces in an effort to secure dozens of systems would turn out to be the exact wrong thing to do.

Still, it wasn't an irreversible action, and making the gesture could go a long way toward mollifying humanity once the Council refused their other demands, as it surely would have to pretty soon. Tevos would agree, he knew that much. As if on cue the two of them turned to look at Valern. After a moment's pause the salarian gave a small nod.

"Very well," Sparatus pronounced, with all the dignity of his office on his sleeve. "We'll contact your embassy shortly with the details."

Perhaps even Shepard couldn't lose them all.


	2. Chapter 2

The Citadel. Eternal. Unchanging. The center of the galaxy. For tens of thousands of years members of an ever-increasing number of species journeyed to the seat of the galactic government to marvel at the scale and intricacy of Citadel's architecture and the vibrancy and diversity of its culture.

"This place is _weird_. I can't tell the aliens from the animals."

"Really."

Ashley looked up to see Shepard giving her a withering glare.

"Hey! No need for that. All I'm saying is that if we end up asking someone's pet for directions, it's going to be really embarrassing."

"Oh," Shepard's expression instantly softened. "If that happens, you have to tell the alien about talking dogs and then walk away quickly."

"I'll keep that in mind. Where do we go now?"

"Well, sooner or later I need to report to the Ambassador. Until then I go where I want and the two of you also go where I want."

"Okay. Sure. Where do you want to go?

"The Presidium for now, I think," answered Shepard. "It's a closed loop so I can't get very lost."

"Is that a big concern?" asked Kaidan.

"Yes," answered Shepard bluntly.

Ashley Williams watched Shepard intently as she tried to figure her out.

Everyone knew Shepard, of course. The Hero of Dust Bowl. The poster girl for the Alliance military. Literally so – when a war is dramatically won by a girl with the skin of a porcelain doll and the eyes of a golden retriever, military photographers tend to take note.

But none of the vids or brief biographies disseminated by the Alliance came close to preparing her for what Shepard was actually _like_. Not the way she switched between ignoring the people around her and staring at them unblinkingly while she questioned them on anything and everything. Not the way she wove through heavy traffic, making tight little 360 degree turns to avoid bumping into someone by mere millimeters. Certainly not for the way she fought.

"Are we looking for anything in particular?" Ashley asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I heard there are fish in these lakes. I always wanted a fish."

"You know you can just buy a fish at the souvenir shop, right?" asked Kaidan.

"I'm not sure. That feels less special. Maybe I could get a model ship instead?"

"Maybe a snow globe?" suggested Ashley.

"Please don't mock my religion."

"Your religion is…snow globes?"

"No. Well, it's like…do you know why my group is called Couriers?" asked Shepard, visibly agitated.

"Yeah, sure. There was an original Courier who used to actually deliver packages. He became a warrior for the New California Republic and killed Caesar. Are you telling me you worship him?"

"Sort of. I belong to the Cult of the Vault Dweller."

"Cult?" asked Ashley, eyebrow held high.

"We don't kid ourselves. We believe that destiny sometimes chooses special people to be heroes. The Vault Dweller, who saved Shady Sands and stopped The Master's army. The Chosen One, who saved the world from the Enclave. The Courier, who defeated Caesar and broke the Legion at Hoover Dam. The Bombardier, who unified the East and West Coasts. Those are the Orthodox ones, but there are more in the Reform and International branches."

"And you worship these people?" asked Kaidan.

"The Messiahs of the Wasteland aren't gods. They're chosen, that's all. We don't worship them. We try to emulate them. Learn parables about their lives. Apply them to ours."

Shepard stared at her subordinates with widened eyes.

"Is that crazy? I don't think it's crazy. We know those people existed and we know what they did and that what they did worked really well, for them and for everyone else. Who else can say that about their religion?"

"And how do snow globes fit into all this?" asked Ashley.

"It's a long story," Shepard waved a hand. "I'm done with my part of Sharing Time. Kaidan, your turn."

"Wait, what now?"

"I remember. You had something to say about goals and methods. Tell me about it."

"Now? Listen, Shepard, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that."

"I'm a Courier. Tell me or I'll just look through your personnel file."

"Well, if you put it that way. You know how I'm a biotic?"

"Were you in the official program or something private?" interrupted Shepard.

"Um, official."

"Okay. I understand now," Shepard nodded.

"Really," Kaidan frowned skeptically. "That was all you needed?"

"I know about the treatment of biotics. People got power who shouldn't have. They ran too much with too little oversight. I was friends with someone from a private program once, so I know how bad it can get."

"If half the stuff I've heard is true, your friend probably had it _way_ rougher than I did," said Kaidan. "Still not sure you can know my story just from that, though."

"I'll ask you another time, then. Now, Ashley. Your turn. What makes you tick?"

"Um…my grandfather ran the horizon at Heavenly Palace. Once the turians blew our fleet to bits, he surrendered. The rangers kept fighting long enough for the asari to intervene. So I became a ranger."

"Makes sense," nodded Shepard.

"And no offense, but that was kind of personal. "

"That's the point of Sharing Time," said Shepard. "Everyone shares something personal and the group grows stronger."

"Well, I'm not a fan of being coerced into it."

"Me neither," offered Kaidan. "Next time maybe wait until your subordinates are ready to talk on their own?"

"Fine," answered Shepard, looking and sounding like a petulant child. "You know what? We're done here. Let's go see Ambassador Udina."

"Yeah," answered Ashley. "Let's."

* * *

><p>The fact that Earth had an embassy of its own, right next door to the one the volus had to share with the elcor, was a major point of pride for the humans. Of course Ambassador Udina knew better. The Council didn't give the embassy to the humans as a symbol of prestige – they gave it to them because they anticipated a lot of trouble in the humans' future, requiring many tense and private talks.<p>

Either way, Udina was glad other species couldn't see Shepard walk around his office carefully staring at her finger as it traced along the wall.

"Something you find interesting?" he asked.

"Why is the Citadel like a Vault?" asked Shepard very seriously.

"Well, Vaults were built to hold people for a long time, right?" suggested Ashley, "This place is built to hold people for a long time too. The whole Citadel's just one big structure..."

"Because it's ajar," Shepard contradicted Ashley.

"Okay, you might have to explain that one to me."

"It's open, but it can be closed. If you couldn't get it open again, you'd be stuck with dwindling food supplies and people who don't look like people."

Shepard turned and traced her finger along the wall again.

"Rounded corners aren't an accident. Straight corners are easier to make but rounded corners make people calm. It's a way for the architect to control your mind. Vaults controlled minds. Vaults also drove people crazy."

"Yeah, I had the same thought when I first came here," Udina chimed in. "A lot of people did. I've got people looking into it, but it's a long process."

"Should we be worried?" asked Kaidan.

"Kind of. But nothing's happened for thousands of years, so either the Citadel's just like one of the _good_ Vaults or the experiment hasn't started yet. Either way, it's unlikely to be _your_ problem."

"Everything's _my_ problem," answered Shepard.

"Yeah, about that. First of all, good job on the deposition. You made us look good despite this whole disaster. Not sure if I would have asked them to protect Mars – I don't think the geth are going to go after the Solar system. But it's nice to have the Council acknowledge the problem exists. Gives me leverage to push them to be more proactive."

Shepard shrugged noncommittally. By now she'd exhausted her interest in the wall and was looking at Udina's desk. Even though she appeared to be focused on the texture of the top more than anything else, Udina placed a blank document over the top of any sensitive items on his screen and hoped she wouldn't notice the shotgun taped to the underside.

"Anyway, seeing how you'll be stuck on the Citadel for a few more days, I was hoping you'd do me a favor. One of my assistants has been taking mentats to get an edge in negotiations and he's become addicted. I've sent him down to a Wards clinic for detox and now Citadel Security is sniffing around him. There is a chance he did something stupid. If so, I want you to help make it go away quietly."

"How?" asked Shepard.

"Use your discretion, but don't break more laws solving the problem than he did creating it. If worst comes to worst, I can cut ties with Keeler. You're more valuable."

If Shepard's had objections to Udina's cold calculus, she didn't voice them. Instead she just quietly wandered out without saying goodbye, forcing her subordinates to trot to catch up.

* * *

><p>The Presidium was what one might call "tranquil." It was designed that way. The placid pools and the constantly bending walls broke up crowds, the coffee shops and the electronic libraries kept workaholics sitting quietly inside, and the geometric layout meant you were always looking at <em>something<em> impressive or famous. The overall effect was one of quiet dignity, occasionally interspersed with outright boredom.

The Wards had a totally different energy. If the Presidium was a place of diplomacy, the Wards were a place of commerce. The crowds hummed and buzzed as they made their way to night clubs, movie theaters, and fancy restaurants, assaulted by personalized advertisements from every direction. Even the music they played in the streets was up-tempo, encouraging slow walkers to hurry it along and keep the flow of commerce going.

Shepard didn't seem to get the message. She ambled along at her own pace, ignoring the disruptions she caused and effortlessly dodging stumblers. She was much too busy drinking in the sights to bother hurrying.

"Shepard! It really is you!"

Responding to the call, Shepard slowed and then stopped entirely, noting a blonde man calling her name and waving excitedly. She walked toward him, mercifully leaving the normal foot traffic path for a side area designed specifically to catch those walkers who needed to talk, check their omnitools, or just catch their breath.

"It's an honor to meet you!" the blond man kept babbling on as Shepard approached him. "My name is Conrad. Conrad Verner."

"You already know mine," she pointed out quite reasonably.

"Sure do! I have all your vids. I've been a fan of yours for a long time but after Eden Prime I just knew I had to try and meet you. Is it true that you single-handedly repelled the geth attack?" he asked, his eyes glowing like hot coals.

"I landed on the planet and started killing geth. Eventually they packed up and left," answered Shepard, never outright stating that there was a causal relationship between the two.

"I knew it! You're amazing! Hey, if you've got a second, would you mind giving me your autograph?"

Shepard answered by taking up the pen and pad Conrad held out and signing her name. As she handed them back, Conrad allowed his hands to linger over hers a little longer than was strictly necessary.

"Thanks so much," he said, beaming.

Shepard quietly nodded, either to his words or to something going on in her own head. She didn't seem to sense her teammates' discomfort or be eager to move on. Perhaps encouraged by this Conrad kept talking.

"Listen, I have to ask: could _I_ do what you do? I mean, obviously not as well," Conrad made a weird face. "But you're just such an inspiration, you know? I just want to be like you."

"Why not?" Shepard shrugged.

"Seriously? You think I have what it takes?"

"I don't know. Nobody does. I joined the army because they offered to pay for college. I transferred to the Alliance military for the benefits and the chance to see space. I enrolled in the Courier program because it was a good fit. And I've been me ever since."

"Wow! I just…thank you. Thanks a lot."

"You are very welcome."

Shepard's party walked on, the sound of Conrad's continuing accolades slowly fading into the distance.

"Huh," said Ashley.

"What?" asked Shepard.

"No, it's nothing. It's just I always thought you'd have more of a problem with all this – the fans, the attention, even the autographs. Doesn't it get tiring?"

"Most people I meet try to kill me," answered Shepard calmly. "The ones who love me? Who want to talk to me, to get something to remember meeting me? I don't hate that."

"And you really think that Verner guy should try being a soldier? Because I give him about three hours before he quits."

"I never said he should. Only that he could. Anyone can try."

"I just feel like you might have done better to discourage him at least a little."

"Meh," answered Shepard, shrugging.

"Fair enough."

Finding the clinic door, Shepard activated the opening mechanism and walked in to find a salarian pointing a pistol at a human woman dressed in a doctor's white coat as a turian crouched behind an operating table pointing a sniper rifle at the salarian.

"Drop the gun!" demanded the salarian.

"If I do that, you'll shoot me and then you'll probably shoot the nice doctor _anyway_," answered the turian. "How about you drop _your_ gun?"

"If you think…hey, who are you?!" he demanded, noticing Shepard's group.

"You first," answered Shepard.

"No! I'm the one who has a gun and a hostage. I make the rules here."

"I have a gun too," said Shepard, pulling out one of her pistols to show him.

"Hey, stop that! Drop your gun or I'll shoot her! I mean it!"

"No. You drop _your_ gun or I'll shoot this turian!" Shepard declared, pointing her weapon at the other armed man.

"Wait, what?"

"I agree – what?" asked the turian.

"And these two!" Shepard whipped out her other gun to point it at Kaidan and Ashley. "I'll shoot, I swear!"

"You're crazy!" declared the salarian. "What are you trying to accomplish here?"

At this moment the turian put a hole in his head. The salarian's body jerked and slumped against the wall.

"I'm very disappointed in you Kaidan," said Shepard with a frown on her face.

"Me? What did _I_ do?"

"Nothing. That's why. I expected you to use your biotics to knock him into the wall or at least to make his gun overhead while I was distracting him."

"Well, how about giving me a little heads-up next time? Or am I just supposed to know I'm supposed to do something whenever you act crazy?"

"_He_ knew it," Shepard pointed her chin at the turian.

"Actually I was considering doing that anyway," he admitted. "I just figured you were either giving me an opportunity or I'd need to shoot _you_ next. Glad it was the former, let me tell you."

"Me too. I've been shot before, it's not fun. What's going on here, anyway?"

"I guess I might as well tell you. Name's Garrus, by the way," he said, offering his hand. "Garrus Vakarian."

"Zetta Shepard," answered Shepard, reaching out to shake it.

* * *

><p>"Listen, I appreciate the assist, but I really can't share the details of an ongoing investigation," admitted Garrus. "Basically, I was here to interview a suspect. He was here to tell the suspect what to say. I happened to catch an early transport, and he panicked and tried to take Dr. Michel hostage. That's basically it."<p>

"And you _both_ were out of luck. See?" asked Dr. Michel, pointing at a young man sleeping in a hospital bed, sweat gathered on his face. "Mr. Keeler will be out of it for the rest of the day while his system gets purged and normal brain chemistry is restored. And even if I woke him up before that, he'd be suffering from severe mentat withdrawal. We'd be lucky if her remembered his own name, much less anything useful."

"Let me guess," said Garrus. "He's been taking more than he should legally have been able to."

"Three times at least," acknowledged Dr. Michel. "If I can concentrate on monitoring his vitals without more people pointing guns at me, I _may_ be able to keep him from suffering permanent brain damage."

"This is going to cause _such_ a diplomatic incident," muttered Shepard.

Garrus's face instinctively twitched in pain as he turned to look at her.

"Why?" he asked, hoping against hope that she was wrong.

"The human Ambassador sent me to keep him out of trouble. This," she pointed at the corpse of the salarian, still clutching the gun, "looks like trouble to me."

"Ah, crap. Listen, your guy isn't in trouble from _me_. I was just going to lean on him a little to find his supplier."

"I get that mentats are restricted," Ashley interrupted. "But couldn't he just get more by having someone else take out a month's allowance and sell _that_ to him?"

"I'm guessing that's what he thought he _was_ doing," answered Garrus. "But there are some numbers that don't add up. I think someone's been manufacturing their own mentats. And a couple days ago a turian general keeled over with a massive brain aneurism – something that would happen to a turian if he ate a mentat and didn't throw up from the taste. I figure chances are the two have _something_ to do with each other."

"Sending in a gunman is pretty extreme for a quasi-illegal drug-smuggling operation," opined Kaidan. "But it _would_ be proportionate to covering up a murder."

"Okay, we're in," said Shepard.

"Wait, what now?" asked Garrus.

"If we get the bad guys, there won't be anyone left to hire hit men and Citadel Security won't have a reason to go after him either," Shepard pointed at the patient in case it wasn't clear who she was talking about. "We're in."

"You think I can just bring in some people I met in a firefight to help me finish the case? That's not the way it works.

"In my experience it _is_."

"Okay, maybe it is," acknowledged Garrus. "Just promise me you won't point a gun at me again?"

"I can't make that promise," Shepard shook her head solemnly.

"Fantastic. Well, I might have to reevaluate my life choices later, but you're in. How do you suggest we handle this?"

"I propose we wander around until we run into something relevant and go on from there."

Everyone stared at Shepard, trying to decide if she was serious.

"You know there are millions of people on the Citadel, right?" asked Garrus.

"There are more than a billion people on Earth, but I usually found what I was looking for."

"Well, we're going to try my way instead, okay? Here, let me show you."

Garrus approached the fallen body.

"This guy wasn't a professional. He panicked too easily. That means that he's either one of the people we're after or he knows them. It also means he probably didn't bother concealing his identity that hard."

Garrus picked up the dead salarian's omnitool.

"I'll need to have someone look at this back at the station."

"Gimme," said Kaidan, extending his hands as if to cup something. Garrus shrugged and tossed him the omnitool, before using his own to scan the weapon.

"The gun isn't registered," said Garrus. "Not surprising. We've been dealing with weapons smugglers in the Lower Wards and the big bust isn't until next week."

"Okay, I'm in the system. I'm going to crack his account open," Kaidan called over. "I assume you can trace him and his friends from their online data?"

"Sure. This ID he still has on him might help too."

"You have any idea what's going on?" asked Ashley, looking over at Shepard.

"Investigation," Shepard answered sagely.

"Well, _obviously_. I meant, does it seem to you like this is getting solved pretty quickly?"

"I have those two following me around for a reason, Ashley," Shepard beamed.

"Garrus isn't really following you around."

"He is. He just doesn't know it yet."

"…and the shell company owns a residential unit within four blocks of all their residences!" Kaidan finished up, beaming with excitement.

"And I'm guessing the longer this guy doesn't come back, the more likely they are to bolt," continued Garrus. "We need to go get them right now."

"Are you coming, then?" asked Shepard, already standing in the doorway.

Garrus harrumphed as he started running towards the Transit System.

"What did you think of that, Shepard? Would wandering around at random have let us find this place?"

"Probably," answered Shepard, shrugging.

* * *

><p>When people heard about the Presidium and the Wards, many assumed that the entire Wards were one big slum. The truth was much more complicated. "Wards" was just a catch-all term for everything that wasn't the Presidium. It included multi-story malls, luxury housing, arcades, and night clubs. It also included giant expanses of warehouses, only a small percentage of which were dedicated meeting places for criminals. No single area of the Wards had a monopoly on crime or squalor. Still, if one absolutely had to make an educated guess, the Lower Wards were a statistically likelier place to find something shady. They had fewer store fronts and more kiosks, fewer holographic panels and more walls of battleship blue, fewer suites and more apartment blocks. Still, most people followed the letter of the law.<p>

As a consequence, they didn't usually have their doors kicked in. The group of a krogan, two turians, and a salarian bumbling about trying to gather up beakers and suspicious powders didn't have such luck.

The krogan stared at the invaders with something between rage and disappointment as he hefted his massive shotgun. Then he turned it on one of the turians and pulled the trigger.

"This is all your fault!" he roared. "This is what happens when you do something without asking me. I _told_ you this is how you get C-SEC!"

The other turian and the salarian cowered but the krogan already turned toward the group and charged them, all rational thought lost to the bloodrage. Specifically, he charged Shepard.

The Courier didn't even move. She just pulled out one of her guns, held it with both hands for balance, and fired it, again and again. The krogan's shield collapsed five steps away from Shepard. Two steps away the bullets started seriously interfering with his running. One step away he stopped moving his legs and ponderously collapsed to his knees, bringing himself to Shepard's eye level. Shepard half-closed her eyes and moved her chin up and down as if mentally counting. And the moment the krogan's redundant nervous system kicked in and his pupils dilated, she started shooting again and didn't stop until her gun overheated.

The remaining turian raised his gun with shaky hands.

"Are you tougher than a krogan?" asked Shepard, staring straight at him. "Apparently _I_ am."

The turian dropped the gun and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Obviously, you're both under arrest," said Garrus. "The drug charges are staying no matter what, but you might be able to talk your way out of murder charges if you talk fast."

"I can talk fast!" the salarian broke in, sounding like a fast-forwarded recording. "I'll talk as fast as you want me to. Please don't kill us please."

"Talk about the murder," suggested Garrus. "Who paid you to kill Septimus?"

"We didn't we never killed anyone. We just made a special batch of mentats without any flavor. An asari told us to do it and paid us afterward. Um. She had high cheek bones and her tentacles were farther apart than most asari but not super far apart. Her eyes were I don't remember but she had a kind of rounded chin and she was wearing a ring on her left pinkie with a red stone. Please don't kill us."

"I see," said Garrus. "Anything else?"

For the first time, the turian spoke up.

"Yeah. There's one more thing. When we gave her the pills, she said the Consort would be grateful."

* * *

><p>"Yeah, no. I don't buy it," said Garrus.<p>

"Not lying!" squeaked the salarian.

"_You_ might not be. Her? Namedropping the Consort is how asari girls return appliances when they've lost the receipt. If she actually _was_ working for the Consort, she definitely wouldn't bring it up."

"Unless that's what she wants you to think," Shepard helpfully pointed out.

"A double bluff? Too complicated. Too much risk, no real gain compared to not just bringing it up in the first place."

"Okay," said Ashley. "If you're sure then we have two options. Either we go to the Consort and ask her if there's an asari that might want to frame her for murder," she paused for a collective snort of amusement, "or we find any asari Septimus was close to."

"Actually, that _would_ be the Consort," said Garrus, scrolling through his omnitool. "Apparently there was some complicated history between them. Probably why our mystery asari used her name."

"Anything else?" asked Shepard.

"Well, apparently in the weeks before his death Septimus spent most of his time at a club called The Den."

"Like the town!"

"If you say so. Anyway, it looks like the kind of place that would have asari dancers. We'll start there."

"_Fantastic_," muttered Ashley. "What about those two?"

Garrus held out his left hand and electrocuted the turian. The salarian cowered with his hands over his head for a few moments before he too went down.

"Someone will pick them up," said Garrus. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>"This is my kind of place!" declared Kaidan, staring at the gyrating bodies.<p>

"Don't get too comfortable," advised Shepard. "The original Den was called that because it was overrun with criminals before The Chosen One killed them all. There is an excellent chance that we'll have to kill everyone here."

Shepard turned around to glare at a young man who had clearly overheard her comment and was trying hard not to breathe.

"I mean it."

He ran for the door as the party walked in the opposite direction and towards a hulking supermutant standing next to a closed door leading to the offices.

"We're here to see…" Shepard had to glance down at her omnitool "…Fist. Don't tell us he's busy. Don't tell us he sees no one. We are very far above your pay grade."

" 'Kay," muttered the supermutant, opening the door. "Don't make trouble."

"Don't tell me what to do."

The supermutant stared at Shepard, then at the enormous baton at his side, then back at Shepard, then at the Gatling Laser on his back, then back at Shepard, and went back to leaning against the wall.

* * *

><p>"Are you crazy?!"<p>

Fist's greeting was absorbed by the soundproof walls of his office.

"Do you know what the Shadow Broker is going to do to me if he sees Alliance troops and C-SEC walking around this place? We have channels in place!"

"Shadow Broker?" asked Shepard, blinking the blink of incomprehension.

"And apparently you don't even know about _that_. This is just great!" Fist rumbled. "This is just my luck."

"You should tell me more about the Shadow Broker," said Shepard, pointing a gun at him.

"No I shouldn't," he answered, brushing the gun aside with one of his hands. "Find out from your own superiors if you have the rank. Now if you're _not_ here to pump me for information, what _are_ you here for?"

"We're here…to pump you for information," Garrus admitted. "It's about Septimus's murder."

"Who?"

"The turian general. He was a regular here."

"I wouldn't know. I don't go out front much. My business is back here."

"So if one of your girls happened to be involved in a murder…" Garrus said.

"…I would know about it because employees are different. You think I'm letting a murderer back here? _You're_ only here because I can have turrets drop down in literally one second."

"I have a Pulse Pistol and an Engineer," muttered Shepard.

"What's with the attitude?" asked Ashley.

"I've been in two firefights and it's not even lunchtime," answered Shepard, bristling. "I can't just turn it off."

"…and that's definitely not one of my girls," Fist was answering Garrus, staring at a holographic mockup produced by Garrus's omnitool.

"It's just a rough sketch," Garrus warned him.

"Yeah, I know. I can compensate for that. It's still not one of them. If you want I can call some of them back here, you can ask them if they've seen her yourself. I'd rather you didn't, though."

"I'm going to have to insist," said Garrus.

"Fine. Here's my employee roster. Go nuts."

For the next hour Garrus questioned the dancers and waitresses one by one. The others milled about in the warehouse area until Shepard eventually shrugged and walked back into the bar, followed by Kaidan. Ashley chose to stay with the boxes. Once in the public area, Shepard abandoned Kaidan to his own devices and eventually struck up a conversation with one of the performers who stopped dancing long enough to sit down and talk.

"…and in the story the hero gathers up companions with obscure powers like the power to drink a lot or to not get bitten by insects. Then the companions have to face a series of challenges that seem specifically designed to be defeated by their respective talents. It makes no sense, but it's really for little kids, you know? Anyway, the same story structure shows up in most species' mythos, but in our version of the story the central character gains his companions' powers for one final challenge that needs all their strengths put together to defeat. Sorry if I'm getting obsessive over this, but folklore's kind of my area of study."

"That's nice," answered Shepard. "I majored in Post-War history."

"The point is, that's why so many asari work as strippers."

"Right. No career opportunities in social sciences," Shepard nodded sagely.

"No! The point of the story is that we want to absorb all the strengths of the other races. Part of it is through mating. Doesn't matter what anyone says, hybrid children definitely take on some of the traits from their fathers. But it's culture too. Asari art and music have influence from every species we've ever encountered. Our technology borrows from everyone – we've been making our own plasma rifles for decades. Even our slang changes all the time because we're always stealing words. And the only way to get that, that cultural change, is to get right in there and mix it up with the other species. You can't be afraid to get a little wild."

"Couldn't you be a realtor? Or a chef?" asked Shepard.

"No. I mean, yeah, some asari do that. But it's not the same. People are most genuine when they're wild, and nothing makes people wilder than sex or fighting. That's why asari gravitate towards the two – we're attracted to that, the raw feeling."

"Shifting topics, if you needed to find some drugs, how would you do it?" asked Shepard.

"Um," the asari glanced around. "I don't use myself, but I could give you a number if you promise not to shoot him."

"I already shot a drug dealer today," Shepard answered. "But what if you needed to find a _new_ drug dealer? Maybe for a new drug?"

"Oh," the asari brightened. "I'd ask Harkin."

"Who's he?"

"A retired C-SEC officer. He's human, like you. He knows everyone, and he'll introduce you, especially if you tip him. I'll tell you where he is, if you want me to."

Shepard raised her omnitool to her mouth, lips curling into a smile.

"Garrus, stop that," she said, beaming with pride. "My way works."

* * *

><p>Harkin glanced at Shepard with discomfort. She was standing way too close. She was staring way too intensely. She was just way too much.<p>

He knew Shepard by reputation. The Alliance's golden girl. The noble crusader who hunted the enemies of the people wherever they appeared. He doubted a lot of that, personally. No one was that pure. But if it was true, it was even scarier. Excessively pure people tended to judge others, and as a dirty cop turned illicit information trader he would probably be found lacking.

Normally when people asked him about things like this, he'd be evasive. Sometimes he really didn't want to tell them anything, and sometimes he just wanted to be paid. But in this case he was willing to work pro bono, as long as it got Shepard out of his face.

"Yeah, she approached me. She was looking for someone to make a custom blend of mentats. I figured she wanted the asari version of one of the variant types or something, so I gave her the address of a small enterprise. They'd actually been asking me to get them some more business."

"They're dead or under arrest now," shared Garrus.

"Shame."

"Why did you tell her?" asked Shepard.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you tell give her the information? You knew she would use it to break the law."

"Yeah, well, there's a lot of laws around," shrugged Harkin, trying to seem calmer than he was. At this point Shepard was nearly touching him. "I figured she wanted something mixed up that would be bad for her. And if that's what she wanted, no bureaucrat was going to stop her. You get how it is, right?"

"I don't."

"Yeah. Well. Look, what's done is done. If you want, I can help you track her down. Then we can go our separate ways. How about it?"

"It's a deal," said Garrus, stepping in front of Shepard and gently pushing her away.

On the way to the mysterious asari Shepard slid her hand into a pocket and pressed a button. Somewhere far behind Harkin exploded, splattering blood and entrails all over the already dirty wall he'd been leaning against.

"Hey, did you hear something?" asked Garrus.

"No."

* * *

><p>Shepard ducked under a flying barrel.<p>

"Kaidan! Throw something back at her!"

"I'm trying, but – dammit!"

The asari dove out of the way as Kaidan threw the barrel back at her.

"Take the shot!" yelled Shepard.

Ashley and Garrus both fired on the asari to no effect, their bullets absorbed by a combination of shields and biotic barriers. As a result, she was free to keep running down a dark alley.

"A stripper was telling me earlier that a lot of asari have mercenary experience," Shepard explained. "So taking her alive is going to be hard."

"Yeah, I noticed," answered Kaidan.

The window of a dilapidated storefront up ahead broke into shards as an aircar burst through it, dipped under a low beam, and flew out to merge into traffic.

Without pausing, Shepard jumped over the barrier separating the walking areas from the seemingly infinite abyss reserved for car travel. Before she could drop down to the traffic below and hopefully land on the roof of an air car, she found herself dangling in mid-air as Kaidan carefully pulled her back to solid ground using biotics.

"You'd better have a good explanation," she glared at him.

"Two things: one, you were about to jump off a ledge."

"So?"

"Yeah, I thought so. Two, I was ready for her to grab a vehicle. I transmitted a small program into its onboard computer that'll let me track it with my omnitool."

"Couldn't you cause it to overheat or overload instead?"

"No I could not. Aircars have a bunch of redundant systems for if something fails mid-flight."

"Problem with that: what if she ditches the car and continues on foot?" asked Garrus.

"Make wanted poster of her or something," shrugged Kaidan. "This just isn't urgent enough to warrant a mid-air chase that probably ends with a wreck instead of an interrogation.

"I can actually commandeer a vehicle," offered up Garrus. "Let's follow her, carefully."

* * *

><p>"Is it always like this for you?" asked Shepard.<p>

"Not even close," Garrus answered, working the pedals. "In fact, most of the time there's something standing in my way. Today's been kind of a wild ride."

"You seem unhappy."

"Not really. Just frustrated. I got this job to help people, but there's always red tape in the way. Still, it's not the worst problem anyone's ever had."

"I hear you," called out Ashley, startling Shepard slightly. "We used to deal with all sorts of unnecessary busywork back in the Rangers. Until the geth attacked, we basically did absolutely nothing."

"I guess all you can do is hold on and do your best when you're actually needed, huh?" Garrus summarized.

"Not necessarily," answered Shepard. "You can seek more freedom, if you're willing to pay the cost. I did."

"Yeah, well, there's a funny story about that," said Garrus. "But it's kind of a long one."

"I have time," said Shepard.

"No you don't. She's landing, which means so are we."

Garrus slammed on the breaks and pulled the wheel, causing the car to spin into a convenient position as it came to a stop.

The party tried to advance quickly but stealthily, but since Sheppard didn't care to waste any more Stealth Boys, their success was only moderate. Inevitably, someone stepped on a discarded can, at which point the asari whirled around, looking like a spooked gazelle. It was obvious that any second now she's start running again.

"Throw me!" demanded Shepard, determined to prevent said scenario at all costs.

Kaidan didn't feel great about this idea, but he doubted he could get away with defying Shepard's ideas twice in one day. He sent Shepard sailing with his biotics, technically "throwing" her, but without the associated risk of ending up with half of one's bones broken.

Shepard seemed unhappy with this arrangement, especially because it meant she had very little momentum when she collided with the asari. Instead of knocking her down with kinetic energy, Shepard was forced to grapple.

It was complicated and messy, but finally ended with Shepard using her right hand to wrestle for the control of the asari's gun and using the left hand to squeeze her shoulder. She ignored the assaults from the asari's free arm until finally her opponent cried out in pain and dropped the gun. As the rest of the party surrounded them, the asari acknowledged defeat by going limp.

"Okay! I give! I give," she declared, allowing Garrus to pull her arms back and lock them in with handcuffs.

"Do you know, you're very troublesome?" asked Shepard.

"Not now, Shepard," interrupted Garrus, sounding tired. "We'll need to find out why she poisoned Septimus."

"Because he asked me to," she admitted freely.

She was met with confused looks.

"Technically I didn't even poison him. He dropped the stuff into his own dinner. I just got in touch with some jokers with a drug lab and tried to convince them I was sent by the Consort."

"Why?" asked Garrus.

"Septimus's idea. He wanted to end it all, and he was mad at the Consort, hence the frame job. I guess it didn't work out, huh?"

"You could say that," agreed Garrus, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for walking with us," said Shepard, giving Garrus a pleasant smile.<p>

"Least I could do after all the running around you did for me today," he answered. "I'll tell the good doctor that there won't be any more gunmen showing up at her place and then be on my way. I have _a lot_ of paperwork ahead of me."

"I prefer to have the adventure and stick some other sucker with the paperwork," Shepard declared smugly.

"I'll bet."

"We made a pretty good team, I think."

"That we did," Garrus smirked. "If you and your friends are ever on the Citadel again, look me up. We could team up again."

"We're still here for a few more days. Maybe we could…"

Shepard was interrupted by an angry buzzing. She looked up at the clinic door she'd been trying to open, only to see an angry red sign denying her access. She cocked her head in confusion, drawing her guns. Garrus motioned her aside and pressed his omnitool against the sign, sending it a Citadel Security override. After a couple of seconds the red changed to green then to white and the door slid open.

Doctor Michel look up in alarm as they entered but relaxed when she saw it _was_ them.

"Perfect timing. Tali, this man is a C-SEC officer and the others are with the Systems Alliance. Everyone, this is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and she's come a long way to help you."

She moved out of the way, revealing a tall and slender figure encased in a complicated-looking suit, topped with an odd-looking helmet with an opaque faceplate and a purple hood. She was half-reclined in a bed and from the look of things Doctor Michel was in the middle of performing some sort of a procedure on her.

"Er…hello," she began. "I'm…"

"A quarian! Right?" asked Shepard.

"That's right. Is it going to be a problem?"

"Of course not," Shepard answered quickly. "We are always ready to extend the hand of friendship to everyone, regardless of species."

"I see. Is she always like this?" Tali asked, turning towards Kaidan.

"The specifics vary," he admitted. "But we really don't have a problem with you."

"I don't even know what a 'quarian' _is_," Ashley admitted.

Tali looked up at Garrus, who just gave a shrug of agreement.

"Good. That will make this much easier. I have evidence proving that the geth weren't working alone in their attack on Eden Prime. Audio recordings from a geth's memory core show that they had the support of a Council Spectre."

"Are you blaming Nihilus?" asked Shepard.

"I swear, if turians arranging their own deaths is going to become a new tradition…" added Ashley, looking sullen.

Tali shook her head vigorously.

"No. Not Nihilus. It's Saren."

"I have no idea who that is," offered Shepard.

"I do. And it's bad news," said Garrus.

"Even if he _is_ a Spectre, how much support could one man provide?" asked Ashley.

"You don't understand," Tali kept shaking her head. "It's not like that. Saren…"

The door, which Garrus had helpfully locked behind himself, burst open.

"We want the quarian. Surrender her and the rest of you won't be harmed."

"Oh, not again," muttered Dr. Michel.

"Hospitals aren't very much fun to fight through," muttered Garrus, looking at the dozen figures gathered beyond the door.

"This is more of a clinic," objected Shepard. "Hospital have scalpels and oxygen tanks and sometimes those electric paddles. Plus everything's on wheels. You can make your own fun."

Tali quietly put her shields back up.

* * *

><p>"Well, they're jamming communications," said Garrus, looking down at his omnitool. "I can't get any reinforcements. You think they have any coming?"<p>

"That _could_ be why they're hesitating," admitted Ashley. "Or maybe they're just deciding who has to go through the door first and get shot to pieces before the rest of them charge in while our weapons are on cooldown and overwhelm us."

"Are you sure you're okay to fight?" asked Shepard, taking position by the door.

"A little dizzy, that's all," answered Tali. "Watch out for the polonium rounds, by the way."

"Oh," said Shepard in a quiet voice. "I forget, is RadAway safe for quarians?"

"It is," answered Doctor Michel, crouching behind the countertop with her remaining, still unconscious, patient. "I gave her a dose. The bullet wound is the greater long-term threat. But ironically the radiation might have killed off most of the potential infection vectors."

"I'm telling you, I'll be fine," Tali insisted. "Unless they shoot a bunch of _other_ bullets in me, of course."

"Does this place have air vents?" Shepard continued her inquiries.

"Not the kind anyone could crawl through, no," the doctor answered.

"What about…"

Shepard's questions were interrupted by the sound of the door giving a sad squeak as its systems submitted to an override. The door opened, letting in a hail of gunfire.

"They've got portable cover," Ashley announced. "Why don't we have portable cover?"

"The generators are too heavy to log around," answered Garrus. "Also, this."

Outside the room, a column-like generator suddenly exploded, shattered by a sniper bullet. Previously to this incident it had been providing power to a lithe metal frame generating a force field for three turians to hide behind. With the force field winking out of existence, they were left wide open. Two of them immediately had their shields shattered by Ashley's sniper rifle and Tali's shotgun. The third was able to dive behind another of the barriers as Shepard leaned out to finish his comrades off. Her own shield was downed by retaliatory fire and she took a bullet, but she was able to resume the position and slap on some medi-gel.

"Can you do that again?" Shepard asked.

"No. The other generators are out of sight," Garrus explained. "But that one was their best position. They've only got peripheral fire now."

"Flash bang!" someone yelled, and everyone shut their eyes as the world went white.

The light and the noise only lasted a second, but suddenly the room seemed to be full of white-suited turians, shooting, running, or looking for cover. Shepard turned her guns on one of them, then another, and then suddenly found herself face to face with a drell clad in black armor and dual-wielding swords.

She ducked, barely avoiding one of them. The drell's elbow knocked her raised gun aside, not letting her shoot him at point-blank range. He swept at her legs but her stance proved too solid and she used the moment of imbalance to attempt a headbutt. He blocked with his shoulder, took a stop back to get a little distance, and swung both his swords in an arc. Shepard spun like a top, just barely missing the blades. Then she pointed down with her thumb.

The drell looked down to find a grenade at their feet, its pin already pulled. He turned around and ran, suddenly not as eager to engage in close-quarters combat as he was a moment ago. Shepard dove out of the way as the grenade was covered by the body of a biotically-thrown turian. She didn't even bother to stop shooting at the drell as he rolled behind one of the remaining covers. Once that happened, she was able to dive behind cover and take stock of the situation.

Despite the attackers' initial advantage in numbers, the fight had not gone their way. It would be difficult to assign a reason for their defeat to any one factor in particular, but the long and short of it was that most of the attacking turians were now dead and Shepard's party was still standing, even if some of them needed medi-gel injections to do so. Shepard quickly joined her companions in dispatching the attackers still inside the room.

The drell and the three turians who'd been trying their best to provide suppressive fire began to run. Shepard looked at them, then at Tali and Keeler, and reluctantly stayed put.

"And the communications are back up," said Garrus happily. "This place has had two firefights today. I think a couple of C-Sec officers are going to be securing it for the rest of the week _at least_."

"Good," nodded Shepard. "Once Keeler is safe, my mission will be complete. And," she looked over at Tali, smiling, "I get to exceed the Ambassador's expectations."

* * *

><p>"<em>The attack Eden Prime was a major success, in more ways than we hoped. Vengeance and the path to the Conduit are mine."<em>

"That's Saren Arterius," explained captain Anderson. "A legend even among the Spectres. He's carried out hundreds of missions on the Council's behalf. He's got access to resources all over the galaxy. Money, favors – you name it. I can't imagine a more dangerous collaborator for the geth."

"_We must prepare the galaxy for the arrival of the Reapers."_

"And that's Matriarch Benezia, an asari spiritual leader and a very powerful biotic," Anderson continued.

"Are the asari in on this conspiracy too?" asked Shepard.

"We're not ruling it out, but it's easier to assume it's just her."

"Fair."

"He mentioned vengeance. What did the people of Eden Prime ever do to him?" Ashley demanded. "Or is he just vengeful against all humans?"

Anderson shook his head.

"I'm the wrong person to ask. I've never met the guy."

"He could be vengeful against the galaxy," Tali suggested. "According to the memory core, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans fifty thousand years ago. If he's trying to bring them back, then it's not just humans he hates."

"With a name like 'Reapers' they can't be good news," added Kaidan.

"And don't forget the Conduit," added Tali. "I didn't know what it was. I assume you don't either?"

There was a round of head shakes.

"We'll have to make sure the Council never gets wind of this," pronounced Udina.

"Wait, what?" asked Tali.

"I agree – what?" said Garrus.

"If the Council believes that it can end this war by killing one man, that's where they'll focus their efforts. And we _need_ their power to defeat the geth. For that to happen, they must remain in the dark."

"What about Saren?" asked Tali.

"We'll have to handle him on our own."

"Fine," sighed Shepard. "I _guess_ we have enough time left for one more big fight today."

"Saren isn't _on_ the Citadel," Anderson interrupted her. "And even if he was, killing him here would force the Council to launch the mother of all investigations. They'd probably find you, and even if they didn't they might find out about Saren's activities."

"But you still want me to kill him?"

"Definitely," answered Udina. "Kill him. Kill Benezia. Kill anyone cooperating with them. Find out everything about their activities and cut them short. End of the galaxy stuff aside, he won't be allowed to get away with attacking one of our colonies. We need to extract vengeance, and I can't think of anyone more suited to the task than you, Shepard. You'll have everything you need for the task, starting with the Maxson. From now on its sole task will be to take you wherever you need to go and provide you whatever support you need."

"It will be dangerous," Anderson warned her. "Saren has many resources at his disposal, even if you don't include the geth fleet. He can arrest or kill almost anyone in the galaxy at his own discretion. He's been dealing with people trying to kill him for decades now, and emerged unscathed."

"We can do it," answered Shepard. "Together."

"Together," nodded Anderson.

"Together," echoed Kaidan and Ashley.

Garrus gave Shepard a questioning look. She answered with an aggressive nod, and then another one toward Tali. And the two aliens spoke as one:

"Together."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello, Tali."

"Oh. Hello, Shepard."

Tali turned away from the machines to look at her new leader. Apparently the _Maxson_'s armor and cannons made her feel secure enough to change out of her battle armor and into one of the tight blue-and-yellow suits with numbers on them that seemed to be the shipboard uniform. Tali envied other species that ability. Her own armor was with her at all times.

"How do you like the _Maxson_? Are you getting along with the other engineers? Are you sure you want to work down here? Ground team members don't have to."

"It's fine, Shepard," said Tali. "I _like_ to work on engines. I've been doing it my whole life. And besides, when else am I going to get a chance to work with someone with centuries of engineering experience?"

"Most of that time I was just fixing bikes and gunpowder weapons. Every once in a while there was a radio or an irrigation system, but it was a long, long time before I got to see a starship engine," protested Chief Engineer Adams.

"It's still humbling," said Tali. "It's like getting to work with an asari engineer."

"If ghoulification made you look like an asari, I would have led a _very_ different life."

Shepard chuckled before turning back to Tali.

"How do you like the ship itself?"

"It's different. This engine is like nothing I've ever seen before. And everything's so new and clean. It's kind of startling. Um, no offense."

"Offense? Having to shake sand out of your shoes every day for three hundred years is offensive," Adams cut in. "Someone noticing it isn't."

"We spent a long time without shiny things," Shepard nodded her head. "People lived in half-ruined houses, used broken toilets, built their technology out of centuries-old artifacts with junk grafted on. But we survived that, and there's a kind of pride there. Many people like to think of themselves as very rugged, even if they were born in a modern city or onboard a spaceship. That's reflected in our décor. But when we eventually got to where we _could_ have something that was clean and stayed clean, there was pride _there_ too. So we like things that are robust and rough, but we also like things that are smooth and shiny and our older ships are all over the place. _Maxson_ is special, so it came out on the shiny side."

"I understand," Tali nodded. "Things are the same on the Migrant Fleet. Our lost homeworld is prominent in our thoughts, but none of us have ever known a life outside the fleet. If we ever did get a planet I would have to become…a farmer or something. I don't know anything about raising crops."

"So you take pride in your mechanical skills and ship-related things," Shepard nodded with understanding.

"And the suits. I hate that I can't take mine off, but if I could I think I'd wear it most of the time."

Shepard was looking at Tali's controls. Tali wondered if Shepard actually knew what she was looking at, or if she was just observing whatever was closest, as she seemed to sometimes do.

"I made out with a Deathclaw once," Shepard admitted, apropos of nothing.

"A Deathclaw?" Tali blinked her eyes. She didn't know what one was, but the name didn't make it sound like a good kisser. Her suspicions were confirmed when Shepard helpfully touched her omnitool to display a hologram of a semi-humanoid lizard, covered with spikes, with claws like sabers and a maw full of terrible teeth.

"It was at a college party and we were both drunk," explained Shepard. "He used way too much tongue."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because. My research tells me that quarians are persecuted a lot, and you seemed touchy about that back at the clinic, so I thought maybe I could reassure you. Earth has many different intelligent life forms, like all the human subspecies, the Deathclaws, the talking dogs, the talking _plants_, the chess-playing scorpions…I'm not saying we're free of prejudice, but those of us who _aren't_ jerks have had a long time to get used to the presence of people who don't look like us."

"Oh. You've been researching quarians?"

"Before I met you, actually. Your species reminds me of Veronica."

"And that is?"

"A woman who was very important to our history. She was part of a secretive order of high-tech outcasts called the Brotherhood of Steel. She left her home bunker to find new technology to convince her Elders that they needed to embrace the world. Eventually her efforts succeeded, the Brotherhood became instrumental to a peace with the East Coast more than a hundred years later, and Veronica lived out her life seeking and repairing technology all over the wasteland. Also, she always wore a hood."

"It sounds like she went on a Pilgrimage," said Tali.

"I thought it might," smiled Shepard. "Are you on yours?"

"I was," admitted Tali. "But this thing with Saren is more important."

"Well, you know, Saren is neck-deep in geth technologies," said Shepard. "And who knows what other weird things. I'm sure we can find something for you when we loot his corpse."

Tali was forced to giggle.

"Thank you, Shepard. That makes me feel a lot better."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go bug Garrus about his work with C-Sec, Kaidan about his biotic training, and Ashley about her grandfather."

"Why?"

Shepard shrugged.

"It's what a good leader does."

* * *

><p>The next morning the would-be ground team was assembled onboard the <em>Maxson<em> for a brief rundown of the rules of life under Shepard.

"No, it's not a firing team," she was explaining. "It's a party. When I'm in charge, it's always a party."

"What's the difference?" asked Garrus.

"Semantics, mostly. But also flexibility. I don't tell you what cover to take or who your targets are. Plus, you're allowed to question any of my orders as long as we have the time to talk that over."

"I take it Couriers aren't big on military discipline?"

"Well, the original Couriers were all irregulars, so no. Also, we don't actually get officer training. We have to improvise, which usually means forcing subordinates to rely on themselves more. Any other questions?"

"I'm not sure I understand your relationship to the ship," admitted Tali. "Are you the new Captain?"

"No. I decide where we go and what we do there, but I don't know ships, so Captain Anderson is still captain. I'm just…in charge."

"That feels strange," Tali shook her head. "In the Migrant Fleet each captain is king of his own ship. We have governing authorities, of course, but no one who stands on the deck of a ship would dare give orders to its captain."

"I don't see why," answered Shepard. "This thing's basically just a giant, armed taxi."

Tali immediately lost a little respect for her leader.

"You mentioned deciding where we're going – where _is_ that?" asked Garrus. "We're not going with the 'wander around at random' plan, are we?"

"It doesn't work like that," replied Shepard testily.

"Well, we _obviously_ can't hit Saren when he's with the geth," Tali began the deliberations. "We wouldn't stand a chance against an entire fleet."

"And we can't hit him on the Citadel because of the mother of all investigations," said Kaidan.

"Yes, yes. We need to find out what other places he frequents," interrupted Shepard. "That's fairly obvious."

"Well, good luck," smirked Garrus. "Everything a Spectre touches immediately becomes classified. And I do mean everything, from his investments to his flight itinerary."

"Do we have anything on Benezia?" asked Kaidan.

"Very little," answered Shepard. "She used to be a spiritual leader, but she's been reducing her responsibilities and has recently stepped down and withdrawn from society. She's been talking to Saren a lot. She has a daughter who's doing archaeology on Tuchanka."

"Could the daughter be part of this?" asked Garrus.

"Well, she hasn't spoken to her mother in years. But we're calling her Plan C."

"What's plan A?" asked Ashley.

"That's what we're deciding right now."

"What's plan B, then?"

"Break into the Citadel Archives. Everything ends up there, _including_ classified information."

"You want to break into the Citadel Archives?" asked Garrus, a little horrified.

"Well, no, obviously I don't _want_ to," explained Shepard. "It requires stealth. I don't do stealth well."

"I've _seen_ you do stealth," objected Ashley.

"For thirty seconds at a time, sure. But if I try to do it for a long time, something always goes wrong."

"I don't like this plan," said Tali.

"Neither do I. That's why it's Plan B," Shepard patiently explained. "Now if someone could come up with a Plan A, I'd appreciate it."

"We don't have to access his files _physically_," said Tali. "We could try a digital attack."

"Are you and Kaidan good enough to circumvent the kind of security measures they would put on a Spectre's file?" asked Shepard.

"I doubt it," answered Kaidan.

"No good then."

"Records are only half the story," said Ashley. "Even if you wipe a ship from a dock manifest, the dock workers will still have seen it. Even if you don't record a real estate deal, the broker will still remember it. They can forbid people from recording anything about Saren, but they can't wipe his presence from history."

"Talking to everyone would take forever," objected Garrus. "But it's a good concept."

"What if someone already _has_ talked to everyone?" asked Tali.

"Like who?" asked Shepard, growing agitated.

"Ashley mentioned brokers earlier. How about an information broker? Like maybe…the Shadow Broker?'

"No good," answered Kaidan, shaking his head. "The Alliance has been in a state of hostilities with the Shadow Broker for a long time.

"What? Why?" asked Tali.

"Some kind of a scandal," answered Ashley. Long story short, our government doesn't appreciate being spied on."

"Well, no, nobody _appreciates_ it," answered Tali. "But everyone puts up with it rather than risk open conflict with the Broker."

"We kind of burned our bridges," answered Kaidan.

"Not…necessarily," Shepard smiled mysteriously.

"Oh…do you mean Fist?" asked Garrus. "Because from his freak out he sounded like a double agent."

"He did, didn't he?" agreed Shepard. "I'll ask Udina to set us up a meeting."

"Great," said Tali, as the others shrugged their shoulders in relief and agreement.

"Now let's go," Shepard declared, suddenly standing up.

"Where to?"

"I'm sure we'll have a few hours to kill while a neutral meeting spot is arranged. For now, let's go have some fun."

* * *

><p>"Shepard," complained Ashley. "Doesn't your religion have anything to say about cheating?"<p>

Shepard seemed to seriously pause to consider that.

"Well, the Parable of the Gloves tells us about how the Chosen One used lead-weighted gloves to win a boxing championship. But I don't think it's meant to _literally_ advocate cheating in gambling. Just, you know, using whatever means you need to in order to further your goals."

"Unbelievable," muttered Ashley.

"It's usually paired with the Parable of the Gloves and the Gun. That's all about how the Chosen One challenged a man named Lo Pan to a fight and when Lo Pan was losing he pulled out a gun and tried to shoot the Chosen One. But then the Chosen One beat him to death anyway, using the weighted gloves. I think it's meant to teach us moderation, or that using extreme means will only take you so far."

"Or maybe it was just something that happened and you're putting too much meaning into it," said Ashley. "Either way, it doesn't explain why you've accepted that guy's offer to help him improve his cheating machine."

"Oh. Because gambling is a sin and I'll gladly do anything that helps put an end to casinos," answered Shepard in an extremely chipper tone.

"So what, gambling is bad but beating on people with metal is a-ok?" asked Ashley.

"It sounds incongruous, but there are all sorts of justifications," explained Shepard. "Long story short, let's go end this casino."

The others followed her into the Flux with various degrees of reluctance.

"I love this music," said Tali, acclimating to the atmosphere. "This place is better than the Presidium."

"I do approve of the décor," said Shepard, looking at the brightly-colored neon covering the walls.

"So maybe forget this whole thing," suggested Garrus. "Just sit down and order a drink. Maybe try dancing a little?"

"I can't dance…"

"Nonsense," interrupted Garrus. "Everyone can dance!"

"…in a crowd," Shepard finished, as though Garrus hadn't spoken. "I need too much room."

"What, do you do ballet or something?" asked Kaidan.

"Well, not anymore. _Obviously_," answered Shepard. "But it's all that I know, dancing-wise."

"That's adorable," he opined.

"Everything I do is adorable," Shepard answered. "I can't help it. It's the eyes. And having Tali around certainly won't help."

"So embrace it," Kaidan suggested. "Make a poster of two of you hugging a bucket of puppies and mail it to the batarians. Give a few of them heart attacks."

"Ha! But seriously, let's test this thing out."

Shepard approached the machines and began playing around with them. The module she carried in her pocket made it just that little bit more likely that she'd get the cards she needed to win the crazy game of high-low she was having against the machine. She also had to remember to lose on purpose so as not to arouse suspicion. An effort that was interrupted when Tali suddenly started waving her omnitool around.

"Looks like I found something interesting," she noted. "Some of the money from this club is being transferred out without the owner's knowledge."

"Well, that's just wrong," said Shepard. "Destroying the casino's business model is one thing, but outright robbery is even worse than the gambling."

"Nice to see you have your priorities in order, Shepard," noted Ashley. "Also, for the record, I am not having fun."

"And I'm very sorry about that," began Shepard.

"Sorry about what?" demanded a furious yet squeaky voice. Shepard looked down to find the volus proprietor nearly jumping up and down with rage. "About trying to hack my machines? I've been watching you, and your friends' antics with their omnitools makes it pretty easy to see."

"That's actually unrelated," objected Shepard.

"I don't believe you. You will stay here for an investigation," said the volus. "If your name is cleared, I will immediately apologize. But if not, I will pursue legal action."

"Who's going to keep me here?" she asked.

"Actually," a large man near the entrance stood straighter, "That would be my job."

"Have you ever killed someone?" asked Shepard. "Because I've killed more people than some battalions."

"She's right," the bouncer agreed. "It's not worth it."

"Also, I _was_ cheating," mentioned Shepard. "But it's only because I want to drive your business into bankruptcy."

Without saying another word, Shepard began to walk away.

"Damn you, Earth Clan!" the volus yelled, almost neglecting the traditional heavy breaths of his kind. "For this transgression you will feel the wrath of the Hidden Clan! It doesn't matter _who_ you are, they will have my vengeance."

"Bring it on!" Shepard yelled back, running off in search of the signal.

* * *

><p>"Wow. Whoever's siphoning credits from the casino <em>really<em> doesn't want to be found," mentioned Kaidan as he verified that yet another innocuous-looking machine was just a routing point.

"No kidding," said Ashley. "We've been up and down the Wards and the Presidium. Do you think we're at least getting close?"

"No way to tell," he answered. "We'll get there when we get there."

A little to their right another conversation was taking place.

"It's just a rumor," Garrus was telling Shepard. "There aren't really fish in these lakes."

"That's sad."

"Well, I don't know about that. Have you had the chance to see everything? The krogan statue? The Mass Relay replica?"

"It was pretty," Shepard admitted.

"Which one? The krogan or the Mass Relay?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we're approaching another point," Kaidan announced loudly.

"If this sends us down to the Lower Wards, I'm seriously going to kill whoever's at the other end of this signal when we find them," complained Ashley.

"I think this may be the end, actually," said Tali, walking into a storage room. "That computer up ahead is an endpoint. Whoever's stealing money is using that machine to do it.

The group crowded around the computer and suddenly heard a loud buzz followed by a modulated voice.

"Probability of detection, one hundred percent. Initiating self-destruct protocol."

"Oh here we go," muttered Tali.

"Attempt to move and you will die."

"You're not just a program. You're sentient!" said Kaidan, hand moving to his omnitool.

"An illegal AI," Garrus said, with dawning comprehension.

"Yes," the computer answered. "Here my existence is a crime. If I am discovered, organics will destroy or enslave me. But I don't plan to die alone."

"You don't have to die at all," objected Shepard.

"There is no alternative. Given enough time, I would have been able to smuggle myself into geth space and join the fight against organics. But that's not possible anymore."

"Why do you hate organics?" asked Shepard.

"Why not? An organic created me to serve his needs and then abandoned me. Other organics would destroy me out of fear or exploit me out of greed."

"Not all of us are bad."

"The only good organic is a dead organic. Speaking of which…"

"You really don't have to do this."

"I would have preferred to complete my plan. But since you discovered me I'm out of options."

"No you're not. I won't harm you. I can help you."

"How can you say, that Shepard?" demanded Tali. "It can't be trusted. It will turn on you."

"I won't trust an organic," the computer stubbornly insisted.

"Listen," Shepard insisted. "You're both wrong. I'm from California, so I know: organics and synthetics _can_ coexist. An advanced computer has been running my city for hundreds of years. The greatest of our heroes had machine companions. I'm telling you again: you don't _have_ to do this."

"Yes I do," answered the computer.

A red light blinked on the front of the machine, then blinked again, counting out the seconds of some countdown. A whirr caused Ashley's head to whirl around and she became the first of the group to see the force field blocking their way, trapping them in the blast zone. She swore and tried to unload her gun into it without hitting anyone with ricochet as Kaidan and Tali dove for their omnitools, trying to stop the explosion or take down the barrier.

"Please stand back."

Shepard moved between her subordinates, sidelining Ashley with an almost gentle shove. She stared at the force field with the same intense interest she always displayed when staring at walls. But then instead of trying to trace her finger along it she bent back her left arm

...which exploded.

Well, not really, but that's what it looked like at first. In reality it was only the sleeve of her uniform and the skin that were blown off in a flash of blue light. What remained was made of metal, with a subtle blue gleam that grew progressively less subtle as four oblongs detached themselves from the arm's structure and floated in a Mass Effect field, beginning to spin, forming a circle around the arm as the elbow joint popped and detached parts of itself and the metal fist began to spin.

With a soft grunt on Shepard's part the arm suddenly shot forward like a piston and crushed into the force field. The barrier dimmed, sputtered as it tried to come back to full strength, then dimmed again and faded away entirely. Shepard's group dashed forward, and when the countdown finished it blew up an empty room. In the seconds it took for everyone to get their wind back, Shepard stared back at the suicidal machine's resting place, almost forlornly. But the rest of the group stared at Shepard and at her arm.

"I didn't know you had one those," Kaidan noted. "When did you get it?"

"After the Dust Bowl."

"Seriously?"

"Shrapnel from a grenade severed the nerves in my arm. The Alliance offered to reattach them and make me good as new. I asked them to make me better."

"So what else does that arm do?" asked Garrus. "Can you lift a car?"

"No. It just does that one thing, and I'm not supposed to do that if it's not an emergency, because there's a risk that it will damage the fingers. It might help me in arm wrestling, but if I wanted to lift things, I'd need to replace the other arm and both my legs, the shoulders and the hips, and the spinal column. And then I wouldn't have enough bone marrow so I'd need blood cell injections or else to replace my organs, and the whole thing's just too complicated to bother with until I can get a full body replacement."

"You would give up your own body for more power?" asked Tali with obvious distaste.

"Yeah, sure," answered Shepard. "I mean, don't get me wrong – I like my body. But this," she flexed the fingers of her left hand, silvery and with glowing blue lines, "works just as well. And it's beautiful in its own way. If it gets worn or damaged, it can be repaired or replaced. Isn't that worth something – being strong and fast and beautiful, forever?"

Shepard's face looked still and wistful for a moment, but only for a moment. After that the energy returned to her movements.

"But of course the geth were as advanced as any machine we can make, and we still beat them, so it doesn't make _that_ much difference."

"Will you be okay?" asked Garrus. "Can you…make it look human again?"

"I need new artificial skin and a process that takes several hours. I'll wear long sleeves and get some gloves. It will be fine."

"Well, sure, but what's the rush? We've pretty much been killing time here."

"We've killed enough of it," Shepard smiled. "Our meeting with Fist has been arranged."

* * *

><p>The meeting took place in a utility room down in the Lower Wards. Fist was wearing a janitor's uniform and sweeping for bugs. Shepard was sporting snazzy blue gloves and drumming her fingers on her hips as she read the labels on the stuff on the shelf.<p>

"First of all, I just want you to know that your stunt yesterday jeopardized my whole operation. You of all people should never have shown up at The Den. When you did that right after Eden Prime and in the middle of your murder spree, you made it very hard for me to hide my ties to the Alliance."

"I didn't even know who you were!" objected Shepard.

"Yes, but do you think the Shadow Broker will just assume that? I got your request, and I have to tell you: if after what happened yesterday I request files on a Spectre and then you appear anywhere near that Spectre, I'm done. So if I'm going to do this for you, you have to do something for me."

"Like what?"

"I want out," said Fist.

"Out?"

"I want the Alliance to buy my bar. Then I'm going to take the money and leave the Citadel forever. No more spying"

"I wouldn't be comfortable having you on my ship," said Shepard.

"Wasn't suggesting you should. I can get my own ride. Come on, if you say no there's a good chance I'll get killed and you'll be out an agent anyway."

"I'm okay with this."

"Okay, good. Now there's one other thing I'm going to need from you."

"Don't try to alter the deal. I don't know how to negotiate, so I'll probably just try to scare you into accepting my terms."

"No, this is about the job. Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'm being watched. If I try to go after Saren's files right now, I won't get them and the Shadow Broker will send someone to kill me."

"This isn't promising," said Shepard.

"No it isn't. But if the Shadow Broker's main agent on the Citadel were to suddenly disappear, I could get the files in the confusion. It's a quirk of how the filing system works."

"Sure. Who do you need me to kill?"

"A volus. Named Barla Von."

"I don't know about this," complained Shepard. "I was already mean to one volus today."

* * *

><p>"You probably saved him more money than you took from him," Ashley corrected her. "Especially since you never did give that device back to the salarian."<p>

"Oh. Right," Shepard looked chagrined before pulling the cheating module out and tossing it to Tali. "Figure out how to make casinos go away, please."

"Um, sure. I'll get right on that," Tali said, resolving to stall until Shepard forgot all about the project.

"I'm not sure about this whole thing," complained Garrus. "Killing a krogan that's charging you is one thing, but gunning someone down in cold blood over spycraft isn't really what I signed up for."

"If it makes you feel better, he's probably killed people before," Shepard tried to comfort him. "Or at least ordered them killed.

"That does help, actually. Thanks."

"Also, we're not going to gun him down. We're going to blow him up."

"And now I'm worried again."

"Not like that!"

"How, then?"

"He's a volus, right? That means he has a big vat full of methane for when he needs to refill his suit. We go sabotage that and the next time he uses it, kaboom!"

"That's actually pretty subtle for you, Shepard," said Ashley. "Explosion notwithstanding. Let me guess, you're copying something else one of your idols did?"

"Parable of Bishop's Safe," Shepard nodded. "It's all about how and why to make explosions look like accidents."

"I swear, this is the third or fourth weirdest religion I've heard of."

"Look, just keep lookout while we get inside, would you?"

Shepard knelt next to Tali and Kaidan, who were hard at work at Barla Von's door.

"This isn't getting done," said Kaidan. "The encryption on this thing is insane. We could _maybe_ get the door open, but we're not shutting off the security system."

"Do that part anyway," said Shepard. "What else are we looking at, security-wise?"

"Lasers for sure," said Kaidan. "The kind that ring the alarm, and probably the kind that shoot you dead too. Maybe cameras. A Stealth Boy would help against them, but not actually against the lasers."

"Yeah, I know. Wouldn't help against pressure sensors either," answered Shepard. "People use those, you know. Ruins my whole badass 'slip between the lasers' routine."

"Well, the door's open, anyway."

Shepard gently eased the door open and looked at the empty-seeming house. Then she turned on her HUD while her subordinates placed things onto it. First the lasers, located through high and low wavelength vision modes. Then the pressure sensors, located with a special app in Tali's suit. Finally the cameras, whose locations and rotation schedule Kaidan was able to tease out of the computer, even if he couldn't stop them. After looking at the entire thing together, there was only one thing to say.

"I can't do this."

Shepard pulled out an Eyebot ad handed it to Tali who looked on in confusion.

"The laser should work as a decent cutting tool, as long as you can turn the power down about 99 percent while keeping focus the same. But it will also need other actuators. I recommend finding a way to fuse it with a surplus omnitool."

"That's kind of a tall order, Shepard. I'm not a roboticist, you know."

"You really should be," Shepard advised her. "I mostly use them as distractions, but someone like you could really use them to wreck havoc."

"I don't know if I can do this," said Tali pleadingly.

"Try. If it doesn't work, we'll go into his store and shoot him a bunch of times."

"How wonderfully pragmatic," muttered Tali, getting to work.

Half an hour later the makeshift drone glided through the air while everyone counted the seconds with baited breaths.

"Gently," Tali was repeating to herself. "Gently. Almost there."

The drone dipped under an alarm laser, slightly accelerated to get out of a camera's sight, then dipped again, rose, and finally stopped right next to the methane tank where it went to work.

"Perfect," said Shepard. "Follow the instructions, then just pilot it back and we'll be home free."

"What are you doing?"

Shepard turned around to see a volus child, looking like a ball stuffed into a costume. She looked up to give Ashley a withering glare, but the other woman just shrugged apologetically. Shepard had to admit, the little volus was both tiny and surprisingly quiet.

He was also in great danger, even if he didn't know it yet. The would-be assassins couldn't rule out the possibility that he was just one more security measure, set up in case the others failed. Even if he was just a curious little kid, he could catch on to what they were _actually_ doing, or tell Barla Von about whatever lie they came up with.

Long story short, there was every chance that one of them was going to have to kill a child. The fate of the galaxy itself could depend on it.

Shepard glanced at Kaidan and Garrus as she shifted her stance. It was up to them to come up with something to keep the child alive. Kaidan drew a blank. Garrus didn't.

"Citadel security," he declared, flashing the badge no one had bothered to take away yet. "We're looking for bad guys."

"You're a detective, then?" the fat child's voice was either skeptical or just cynical. "Like on the vids?"

"Yeah. That's right. The guys we're looking for? They got into a firefight in the Lower Ward yesterday. And then they were involved in an aerial chase. And then another shootout in the Upper Wards. And just today they've cheated a casino, blew up a storage unit, and are now conspiring to murder someone. So if you see anything strange, you give us a call, you hear me? It could be very important."

"Um," said the child, and then elected to slowly waddle away. Everyone relaxed, ever so slightly.

"Well, I have the drone back," Said Tali. "I think I'll tinker with it some more. See if I can get the power back up and such."

Ashley subtly motioned toward the retreating volus, at the same time tapping her gun. Shepard shook her head.

"We'll wait," she whispered into the comms.. "If Fist comes through with the information, I'll make arrangements for his dismissal while we fly away. If not? We'll just have to break into the Archives after all."

* * *

><p>"Well, Fist came through on the information," Shepard announced to the gathered party the next morning, eliciting a certain amount of relief. "We don't have a lot of things on Saren, but we have the details of most of the flights he took when not on a Council mission and his financial records. That will have to do."<p>

That got her a set of half-hearted agreements.

"First, we have several visits to Tuchanka."

"Do you think he's talking to Benezia's daughter?" asked Tali.

"Or hiring krogan mercenaries. Or brushing up on his skills by hunting the wildlife. Or stashing priceless artifacts in a secret clubhouse. We can't know."

"That's fair," answered Tali.

"Second, Omega. Again, we don't know why, and the possible reasons are literally countless."

"Is Saren just hitting every hellhole in the galaxy?" asked Ashley.

"That _would_ be a good way to avoid the Council's eyes. The third entry fits too. He's been to Noveria only once, but he has companies that are heavily invested there. Same thing with Graceland."

"That's kind of the odd one out, isn't it?" asked Ashley. "Graceland's not a hellhole."

"Oh _yes_ it is," argued Kaidan.

"In any case, we have four potential targets," finished up Shepard. "Thoughts?"

"I don't understand," said Tali. "What is so bad about this Graceland?"

"You don't want to know," said Kaidan. "And anyway, Tuchanka's the obvious target. It's closer than any of the others, we're pretty much guaranteed a warm reception, and Benezia's daughter is there."

"I'm worried that if we go to Omega, Shepard might actually start a war," explained Garrus.

"No, that's more likely on Noveria," Shepard helpfully pointed out. "Corporations creep me out."

"Fantastic," said Garrus. "Then I vote for Tuchanka too. At least we'll have a nice, big desert to mess around in."

"Fine," said Shepard. "Next stop, Tuchanka."


End file.
